


Turnabout Heart

by sinelanguage



Category: Persona 5, 逆転裁判 | Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney
Genre: Character Study, Crossover, Gen, Persona 5 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-04
Updated: 2017-05-04
Packaged: 2018-10-27 23:11:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10818714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sinelanguage/pseuds/sinelanguage
Summary: Sae Niijima visits an old university friend for advice, but instead has a conversation with a young lawyer named Phoenix Wright.





	Turnabout Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much to Stella, for betaing this for me!

The Fey and Co. Law Offices is out of her way. If Sae wanted to, she could’ve found someone closer by to interrogate. It’s not that defense attorneys are hard to find-- she works at a courthouse. They’re dime-a-dozen around there, and she’s sure she could pressure someone into speaking with her. But any old defense lawyer won’t do; Mia’s the best person Sae can think of for what she needs.

Despite her convictions to become a defense attorney, she’s starting to have doubts. As Shido’s case comes to a close, she needs to be certain she’s making the right decision, and she hopes Mia would help clarify that for her. Mia was always strongly tethered to her own moral compass-- to people, really. It’s why she became a defense attorney in the first place. And even if Mia’s not exactly the same as she was in university, Sae has a feeling she never lost herself in relentless ambition.

The office seems open, the door slightly ajar and the lights on, so Sae enters, and tries not to judge the place by its size. It’s small, and decorated sparsely, but inviting. There’s a couple couches, a movie poster Sae recognizes from university, and a healthy-looking potted plant in the corner. It’s very Mia-- professional, organized, but grounded in something much more welcoming than anything she’d find at the public attorney’s office. It’s lived in.

Still-- it would be nice to confirm how she’s been. Sae can only assume so much from a room, after all.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like she’ll have that chance today. She’s expecting to find Mia in the office, but instead, there’s a man in a bright blue suit investigating a bookshelf. He’s looking at the bookshelf as if books could eat him whole; occasionally, he’ll reach out to grab one, but then draw his hand back, only to repeat the uncertain process over again. He’s so focused he doesn’t even notice Sae.

“Excuse me,” she says. The man behind the desk jumps, knocking an outreaching hand into the bookshelf. He turns around, eyes widening at the sight of Sae, then quickly turns back to make sure he hadn’t knocked down any books.

“Oh! I didn’t see you come in,” he says once he’s finished. He sets two hands on the desk in front of him, as if unsure what to do with them. “Uh, welcome to Fey and Co. Law Offices-- is there anything I can do for you…?”

She still doesn’t know his name; he’s not the most professional of lawyers, if he even is one. Maybe he’s just Mia’s assistant. “I’m looking for Mia Fey,” she says. “Do you know when she’ll back back in?”

The man scratches the back of his head, looking sheepish. “Sorry, Miss…”

“Niijima,” Sae says. “Sae Niijima.”

“Sorry Miss Niijima, she’s out of the office for the day. I can try to answer any questions you have,” he says. There’s a pause, and he adds on much too late, “I’m Phoenix Wright, by the way. A trainee… er, a lawyer here.”

So he is a lawyer; how surprising. He seems over eager, so Sae might as well throw him a bone. He’s working with Mia, after all. It wouldn’t hurt to probe him about her.

“Right,” says Sae. “I’m not here in need of a defense-- just wanted to ask some questions to Mia about her line of work. We went to university together, and I figured she’d be a good source of information on becoming a defense attorney.”

“You’re interested in becoming a defense attorney…?” Phoenix taps his fingers on the desk; his eagerness was easy to read. “I could help you. I’ve been on cases,” he says. He pauses, then clarifies, “A case.”

Well. Maybe he’s even more wet around the ears than she thought. “Maybe you could tell me what Mia’s taught you so far,” Sae says lightly.

“Well-- first thing’s first, always remember to look at the court record-”

Sae huffs a laugh, then interjects quickly to cover it up, “No, it’s-- I’ve been in court before. I’m currently working as a prosecutor.”

“Oh, uh-- really?” Phoenix asks, confused. Probably realizing he may be a bit over his head here. “If you’re already a prosecutor, why switch to defending?”

“I’ve had a change of heart,” she says. It’s apt phrasing, outside the Phantom Thieves association, and she can’t help but use it. However, by the over-interested expression on Phoenix’s face, it may have been too soon.

“A… a change of heart?” Phoenix repeats. He’s transparent, and she’s sure he’s reading much more into the phrasing than she intended.

“Metaphorically speaking,” Sae clarifies.

That doesn’t seem to dissuade his interest, so she tries to divert into talking about the courtroom. “I thought I could become a prosecutor to... to bring some justice into the world,” Sae says. “But the courtroom isn’t a fair fight, and trying to as a prosecutor fairly was an uphill battle. Eventually, I figured that if I couldn’t win in the courtroom for justice, I could win it for myself.”

If anything, this increases Phoenix’s interest. He hasn’t interjected, instead seeming deep in thought, not focused on Sae herself. It’s strange-- she figured she would need to dodge around the Phantom Thieves more, but he doesn’t seem to be interested in that path of inquiry at all. She may have made an assumption too quickly.

“On the last case I was working on, we almost prosecuted the wrong suspect. Court's even more unfair for the falsely accused, and yet...” she pauses. “And yet I would have prosecuted him regardless, had I not changed my perspective.”

“And you changed your perspective on that…?” Phoenix asks. “How?!”

Sae knows, now, that Phoenix probably isn’t after Phantom Thieves gossip-- he’s eating the information about her court decisions up. “I lost sight of what mattered, and some... some people helped me see that," Sae says. 

Phoenix seems pensive again, tapping on the desk. “I see,” Phoenix says. He’s still distracted, and his thought process is lost on Sae. “A change of heart, huh…”

Despite his intensity, he seems less… despondent than he was at the beginning of the conversation, but still very much concentrated on something Sae couldn’t see. Why’s he so interested in this? He’s a defense attorney himself-- and a rookie at that. He must have personal investment here, but he’s too wet behind the ears to be worried about his own poor decisions. He only has one case under his belt, after all. Besides, Sae’s sure Mia is a good guiding force for him.

Silence stretches on, and Sae has a feeling that further details for them both may be too personal.

“That all being said-- you still haven’t answered my first question,” Sae says.

That gets Phoenix out of his thoughts. “Huh?”

“What’s the most important thing Mia’s taught you?”

“Right!” Phoenix’s thinking again, but no longer lost. Hopefully he doesn’t prattle about the court record. “Believe in your client,” Phoenix says. “That’s-- that’s the most important thing Mia’s taught me. Always believe in your client.”

It’s a very Mia statement, and it sounds… well, it sounds like what Sae needs to hear. In fact, she’s almost certain that being a defense attorney’s the right path for her own justice. After all, she ended up believing the bombastic story about the Metaverse, and that’s what lead her to make the right decisions in the end.

Believing in her client’s a good guide to follow.

“Is there anything else…? Phoenix hedges.

Sae shakes her head. “No, that's it,” she says. "Thank you for your time."

“Well, if that’s it, I’ll let Mia know you came in,” Phoenix says. He still seems distracted-- maybe Sae’ll have to talk to Mia about that. A lack of focus is unprofessional-- inexcusable, really, no matter how much of a rookie Phoenix Wright is.

“I’d like that,” she says.

After a brief exchange of contact information, she leaves, making sure to shut the door firmly behind her. Despite not being able to reach Mia, she still found her answer. And when she calls Mia up, maybe she’ll mention that despite the bluster, her trainee was more helpful than she’d anticipated.


End file.
